Saami Parliamentary Co-Operation: An Analysis

The goal of this book is to create a basis for initial concrete evaluations of the question of establishing a joint political body for the Saami Parliaments elected by the Saami people in the three Nordic countries. The first part of the report consists of general background material. These chapters contain a large part of the content of the total report, since knowledge about the past is necessary to be able to understand possible future solutions. The Saami Parliaments´poltical leaders: Pekka Aikio, Ole Henrik magga and Ingwar Åhren have been a reference group for this work. John B Henriksen is a Saami from Gouvdageaidnu/Kautokeino, which is located in the Norwegian part of the traditional Saami area. He is a lawyer by profesion and has for many years been working with legal aid in Norwegian Saami areas. He was formerly a member of the Legal Committee of the Saami Council, and has for many years been the judicial adviser and representative of the Saami Council within the UN system. He later worked as an advisor for the "Sametinget" in Norway, with special emphasis on judicial and international issues. In 1995, on the request of "Sametinget" in Finland, Norway and Sweeden and within the framework of the Nordic Sámi Institute, he made a report which constitute the foundation for the establishment of the Saami Parliamentary Assembly. For the past three years he has been working on indigenous issues at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva.